The bursting entrails. The decapitations. The rape. The sodomy.
This isn’t comics. This is BULLSHIT.

I used this overusedSentry two-page spread just to get your attention. Much of comic book violence is so overdone now. All so mind-numbingly stupid. And you know why? For cheap SHOCK VALUE… And mainly because the current crop of creators CANNOT think of anything BETTER to do.

I tweeted the other day that “Violence has become the LAZY WRITER’S crutch.” Since there’s only so much you can say in Twitter’s allotted 140 characters, I’ll add another thought here:

Violence is also the CREATIVELY BANKRUPT writer’s choice.

How boring this has all become. Comics as torture-porn. All heroes seem to be anti-heroes… And the ones who aren’t are taintedby their association with the assholes that are. Next thing you know, Captain (Shazam!) Marvel will be playing grab-ass with Mary Marvel… And she’ll bat her eyes and throw him a come-hither look.

In the corner, Mr. Tawny will be grinning like the Cheshire Cat and all the pervs.

It’s like almost all our heroes have gone the way of Alan Moore’s The Watchmen… Except it’s NOT the 1980s and NOBODY is sitting back amazed and intrigued… Reading this current shit thinking how brilliant it is. (Except maybe Tom Brevoort that is.)

And, to be clear, I am not the least bit against realism in superhero (or any other) comics. Given the Spandex Context™ of the tights & capes crowd, I’m all for making the stories as rooted in reality as possible. Nothing wrong with being able to believe in what’s happening while you’re enjoying it.

Still, there’s a reason why people are so jaded with superheroes nowadays: Most of their “Heroes” are now FELONS… Or much, much WORSE.

Here’s hoping that DC takes the hint and that their NEW 52 books bring the realism without overdoing the evisceration. I’m no pussy when it comes to blood or guts. I have true life stories of each that would curl your toes and make you want to hurl. Yet, I still don’t sit down to dinner and watch an episode of True Blood. I have a girlfriend who winces and turns away at the first sight of a BOXING MATCH (and I used to be a boxer)… So you can imagine that I have LONG SINCE stopped trying to interest her in reading a comic book past, uh, Andy Runton’s superb Owly.

Whatever happened to the adage “less is more” in horror… And that true suspense and gravitas lies in what you DON’T see? I watched six minutes of a Saw film once. Don’t know which one. Some girl, who was apparently a drug addict, had to walk across a floor covered with USED hypodermic needles to spare her life– I think. I don’t know, I stopped watching after that little bit of overtly manipulative and gruesome horseshit…

… Just like the HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of once avid comic book fans that have stopped READING all these “grim & gritty” horseshit comic books.

Jose and I gave this superb Manga series a thorough going over in IMJ Podcast #8.

If all you know about Bernie Wrightson is that he’s that guy that seems to be drawing a lot of Steve Niles’ comics nowadays… You are SO missing out.

Bernie Wrightson is the PREMIERE HORROR ARTIST of this– or any other– generation.

Yes, that’s right. I basically just wrote that Bernie Wrightson is the BEST HORROR ARTIST of ALL TIME… And his work in the old Black & White Creepy & Eerie mags from Warren Publishing represent some of the best work of his career. I love his stuff so much, that even though I own every volume of Dark Horse ComicsEerie & Creepy Hardcover reprints (They ain’t cheap!), I bought this book anyway.

If you like Horror comics done right… If you don’t know Wrightson’s work (or only know him from his latter day efforts), I strongly urge you to pick up this wonderfully pulpy, gaudy collection. (There’s even a FULL COLOR tale in the back.)

Fall’s in the air. Halloween’s around the corner. Sit back with something meant to scare (not sicken) you. One warning though: I bet you’ll like this special volume so much, you’ll want to starting reading the other Dark Horse Warren Publishing Hardcover collections. (And like I just wrote: They ain’t cheap!)

Every friggin’ time one of these Brightest Day Hardcovers comes out from DC Comics, I get deluged with emails, tweets and IMs from people asking me why I didn’t choose one of these books as my Piece O’ Shit pickof the week.

Simple: There always seemed to be something shittier to jump on.

Well Brightest Day haterz, it’s your “lucky” week! Not only am I saying this book is bad enough to be picked as one of our weekly POS* Picks… It’s bad enough that I have picked it as WORST IN SHOW for TWO ENTIRE WEEKS.

I’m gonna have 2 look in2 that Wrightson book!!! After Gene Colan, n Neal Adams, l think Berni was the next name l found recognizable in my youth. His, n Len Wein’s Swamp Thing was MY Swampy, not the “other” guy :-) Also l 4get whether it was Eerie or Creepy that ran (the monster under the bed bit) but whichever, that was a classic! Yeah l’m certainly gonna have 2 look in2 getting that book, not 2 mention Shelley’s Franl…… 8)

The art reproduction is just perfect, the flat 80’s colours really bounce off the page without having had to be recoloured. The book smells great too, not that usual chinese food smell that a lot of marvel omnibuses have. Also the fact that its pure concentrated thrill power encased between the covers.